Arraignment delayed for west suburban man accused of stabbing mom to death

DuPage County state's attorney

Kevin D. James.

Kevin D. James. (DuPage County state's attorney)

Clifford WardChicago Tribune

A Naperville-area man charged in the stabbing death of his mother near Downers Grove will be represented by a private attorney rather than a public defender, a development that postponed his arraignment on Friday.

Kevin D. James, 23, of the 30W000 block of Capistrano Court, made his first appearance in court since a DuPage County grand jury indicted him earlier this month in the Jan. 9 death of Patricia James, 51, at her residence.

Unlike his first court appearance in January, during which he was strapped into a chair because he would not cooperate with security guards, James was escorted into the courtroom of Judge Liam Brennan.

James had been scheduled for arraignment, but his public defenders told the judge that James’ family had arranged for private counsel to take over the case. The judge set the case over for March 2 for the formal reading of the charge and status on the new attorney.

A grand jury on Feb. 6 handed up a five-count first-degree murder indictment against James. Authorities say that he stabbed his mother to death, telling police that he wanted to send his mother to heaven and that he saw green devil dinosaurs before the attack.

Witnesses told police that around the time of the stabbing, they saw James wandering in the street near his mother’s home in the 2100 block of West 63rd Street. But DuPage sheriff’s police say they found a bloodied James in the doorway of the family’s home when they responded to a 911 call placed by James’ sister. Police found his mother’s body in the living room; she had been stabbed multiple times with a kitchen knife, authorities said.